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Values Exercise

The following exercise can help you start living your best life according to your core values in 30 minutes or less.

1. Determine your core values. From the list below, circle every value that resonates with you. Do not overthink your selection. If you think of a value you possess that is not on the list, write it down.

Abundance

Acceptance

Accountability

Achievement

Adventure

Advocacy

Ambition

Appreciation

Attractiveness

Autonomy

Balance

Being the Best

Benevolence

Boldness

Brilliance

Calmness

Caring

Challenge

Charity

Cheerfulness

Cleverness

Community Commitment Compassion Cooperation Collaboration Consistency Contribution Creativity

Credibility Curiosity

Daring Decisiveness

Dedication Dependability

Diversity

Empathy Encouragement Enthusiasm

Ethics

Excellence Expressiveness

Fairness

Family

Friendships

Flexibility

Freedom
Fun

Generosity

Grace
Growth

Flexibility

Happiness

Health

Honesty

Humility

Humor Inclusiveness Independence Individuality Innovation Inspiration Intelligence Intuition

Joy

Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning
Love
Loyalty
Making a Difference Mindfulness Motivation Optimism

Open-Mindedness Originality

Passion
Performance
Personal Development Proactive Professionalism Quality
Recognition
Risk Taking
Safety
Security
Service
Spirituality
Stability
Peace
Perfection
Playfulness
Popularity
Power
Preparedness Proactivity

Professionalism

Punctuality

Relationships

Reliability

Resilience

Resourcefulness

Responsibility

Responsiveness

Security

Self-Control

Selflessness

Simplicity

Stability

Success

Teamwork

Thankfulness

Thoughtfulness Traditionalism Trustworthiness Understanding

Uniqueness Usefulness

Versatility

Vision

Warmth

Wealth

Well-Being

Wisdom Zeal

2. Group all similar values together from the list of values you just created. Group them in a way that makes sense to you. Create a maximum of five groupings. If you have more than five

groupings, drop the least important grouping(s). See the example below.

Abundance

Acceptance

Appreciation

Balance

Cheerfulness

Growth

Compassion

Encouragement

Health

Fun

Wealth

Inclusiveness

Thankfulness

Personal Development

Happiness

Security

Making a Difference

Thoughtfulness

Spirituality

Humor

Freedom

Kindness

Mindfulness

Well-being

Inspiration

Independence

Love

Joy

3. Choose one word within each grouping that represents the label for the entire group. Again, do not overthink your labels. There are no right or wrong answers. You are discovering the value that resonates with you. See the example below. The label chosen for the grouping is bolded.

Abundance

Acceptance

Appreciation

Balance

Cheerfulness

Growth

Compassion

Encouragement

Health

Fun

Wealth

Inclusiveness

Thankfulness

Personal Development

Happiness

Security

Making a Difference

Thoughtfulness

Spirituality

Humor

Freedom

Kindness

Mindfulness

Well-being

Inspiration

Independence

Love

Joy

 

4. Add a verb to each value so you can see what it looks like as an actionable core value, for example:

Live in freedom.
Seek opportunities for making a difference.

Act with mindfulness.
Promote well-being.
Multiply happiness.

5. Finally, write your core values in order of priority in your planner, so they are available as an easy reference when you are faced with decisions. For example:
1. Live in freedom.
2. Act with mindfulness.

3. Promote well-being.
4. Multiply happiness.
5. Seek opportunities for making a difference.

This will guide the actions you take toward manifesting your values in the world.